FORKS TOWNSHIP ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (FTAA)

MEETING MINUTES

10/15/07

 

ATTENDEES: 

Dan Martyak (Pres.)                   John Wieller (Treas.)     Nancy Bonfanti (Sec.)      Kevin Wall

Linda Gruver                              Melody Talpas               Ed Adamko                   Kristie Miers

Carl Scerbo                               Leon Stull                      Scott Abert                    Tim Woodard                

Joe Veres                                  Stephen Semenak         Fran Tone                      Tammi Saylor

Matt Daud                                 Ty Corallo                      Bob Reid                       Scott Hardy

Dana Guffy                                Mike Bonfanti                Jim White                      Tom Gasparetti

Chris Henry                               Greg Russell                 Melissa Walsh  

 

Meeting called to order by Dan Martyak.  

 

TREASURER’S REPORT (John Wieller):

§         A question regarding the payment of a Reagle Insurance bill from the FTAA was asked.  Dan explained that there are 3 total policies.  Two are general liability policies that are paid by the Recreation Board and one is a 4-yr. policy which is a bond to cover the officers and protect the association.

§         John reports that our CD is due on October 21st and will be rolled over.

§         A motion to approve the report was made by Fran Tone and seconded by Leon Stull.  Motion carried.

 

MINUTES:

§         Minutes from 9/18/07 meeting reviewed and approved with a motion by Kevin Wall and seconded by Leon Stull.  Motion carried.

 

CORRESPONDENCE (Nancy Bonfanti): 

§         Received a letter from the township Finance Committee regarding our submission to change the rate schedule currently in place to reduce the costs for residents for fees charged to play sports.  The Finance Committee suggests that we modify them again.  Nancy Bonfanti has already restructured this and will discuss under old business.

 

SPORTS REPORTS

 

GENERAL NOTES FOR SPORTS TEAMS: 

1.       COACHES ARE TO REMIND PARENTS WORKING IN THE SNACK STAND THAT CHILDREN UNDER AGE 16 ARE NOT PERMITTED IN THE SNACK BARS AT ANY TIME.  This is a huge liability for the town since all snack bars are now equipped with fryers and grills. 

 

BASEBALL (Report by Chris Henry)

§         Shed roof at the school needs to be repaired.  EASD is okay with us fixing it since the FTAA built it.  Does anyone know anyone who can repair it for us? 

1.       STATUS:  Bob Goodyear will be making these repairs.

CHEERING (Report by Dana Guffy)

§         The cheerleaders participated in Community Days.

FOOTBALL (Report by Fran Tone)

§         All teams are doing well.

§         9 yr. old Pee Wee team will qualify for the A Division playoffs.

§         We MAY be hosting the 10/28/07 playoff games and will definitely be hosting the 11/4/07 playoff games.

o        Midgets will get a first round by and only the Pee Wee and Jr. Pee Teams would play.

o        ACTION ITEM: Fran to let Nancy Bonfanti know if there will be an October 28th home game and she can let cheering, snack bar, Don Miller and announcers know so they can be ready.

§         The league is requesting that all teams use the same football so in order to raise the money to purchase these footballs without cost to the teams, they would like to sell clothing at the home games to fund the purchase.  Fran felt this was a good idea.

§         The league dinner will be held in mid-November and Fran would like to request that the FTAA pay for the coaches to attend.  The cost is $10 per coach and approx. 30 coaches will attend.  A motion to approve the expenditure of approx. $300 was made by Bob Reid and seconded by Leon Stull.  Motion carried.

§         Fran received a rebate check in the amount of $127 from Bishop Photo for team pictures.  John Wieller to deposit.

SOCCER (Report by Greg Russell)

  • The teams are doing well.  There are 2 teams currently in first place.
  • Greg would like to make a donation to the Easton Soccer Boosters for their assistance in running our U6 soccer program and doing a great job with our kids.  Greg made a motion for a $300 donation which was seconded by Fran Tone.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Greg to let John Wieller to know who to make the check out to.

BASKETBALL

  • No report.

LACROSSE (Report by Scott Hardy)

  • First league meeting was held.  There will be 1-3 new teams from the Lehigh Valley added this year.  Nazareth, Bethlehem and possibly Easton.
  • Lacrosse has requested in their budget to add U11, U13 and U15 teams but this needs to be approved.

SOFTBALL (Report by Ty Corallo)

  • No report.

WRESTLING   (Report by Joe Veres)

  • Signups look good.
  • Practices begin November 5th with a parents meeting.
  • Wrestlers will attend the “Fall Brawl” at Catasauqua.  $350.00 of wrestling budget will be used to attend.
  • Wrestling has 3 home Sundays.  Two of these will be quads. 
    • ACTION ITEM:  Joe to provide Kevin with dates so that snack bar can be supplied.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

DANCES (Report by Kevin Wall)

  • First dance went well.  No issues.  Only one child had to have a parent come back to sign him in.  Long lines at sign-in table because 5th graders have no id yet. 

SNACK BAR (Report by Kevin Wall/Dan Martyak)

·         Last home game was Sunday.

·         Fryers in football snack bar may have to be replaced.

·         Dan/Kevin/John would like to look into replacing cabinets in football snack bar with stainless steel like in the baseball snack bar.  Need approval from Rec. Board and town.

·         A few volunteers didn’t show up.

REGISTRATIONS (Report by Dan Martyak)

·         Form needs to be changed to add disclaimer about children’s risks with playing sports. 

o        ACTION ITEM:  Dan to make changes and have Solicitor review.

RECREATION BOARD (Report by Carl Scerbo)

  • Lock Boxes for have been purchased for lacrosse field and baseball field.
  • Rec. Board will pay for shed repair at the Forks Elementary school.

SCHOLARSHIPS

  • No report.

BACKGROUND CHECKS (Report by John Wieller)

  • No report.

GUIDELINES COMMITTEE (Report by Nancy Bonfanti)

  • Waiting to hear from Don regarding changes to the draft procedures.  Dan reported that Scott and he and Don discussed this and are working on it.
  • ACTION ITEM:  This will be reviewed again at next meeting.

WEBSITE   (Report from Ed Adamko read)

  • Changes are being made as received.

 

OLD BUSINESS

  • Halloween Dance
      • A reminder that the Halloween Dance is scheduled for Saturday, October 27th and tickets are also available at the door.
  • Registration Fee Document review (Nancy Bonfanti)
    • Nancy Bonfanti presented a third notice of amendment to the by-laws regarding the one-time family activity fee.  Fran Tone suggested that we include that volunteer hours must have been satisfied.  Also added was that all equipment/uniforms must have been returned.  With these changes added a motion to approve was made by Leon Stull and seconded by Steve Semenak.  Motion carried.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Dan to add notation to registration form that this fee is non-refundable going forward.  Dan to write a paragraph that would be added to the by-laws to reflect this change and post this on the FTAA website.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Nancy to make changes above and forward to Dan Martyak.
  • Impact Fee Document review (Nancy Bonfanti)
    • Nancy changed the registration fee family schedule which adjusts the FTAA rates as well as the Township rates as suggested in their letter and resubmitted this to the membership.  A motion to approve was made by Fran Tone and seconded by Ty Corallo.  Motion carried.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Nancy to send the new document to Don Miller to submit at the next Finance Committee meeting.
  • Coaches, shirts, hats, jackets…
    • Discussion was held on how many coaches per team should get shirts.  Based on discussion the following numbers were provided to Dan as to how many shirts would be required per sport.
      • Soccer – 60
      • Baseball – 60
      • Wrestling – 10
      • Lacrosse – 18
      • Football – 40
      • Softball – 40
      • Cheering – 15
      • Basketball – 40 (Don can change this if necessary)
    • ACTION ITEM:  Melody Talpas from cheering has offered to pick out a shirt for female coaches.
  • First Aid kits
    • ACTION ITEM:  Matthew Daud will put together a sample large and sample small kit.
      • Status:  A question arose as to whether we should be administering first aid at all which would impact what would actually go into these kits.  It was decided to have medical kits but not to administer first aid to any serious injury.  Only basic first aid items would be carried and extra supplies should be kept in the equipment room.  Coaches are responsible for re-filling their kits.
      • ACTION ITEM:  Matt will put together 2 kits for wrestling and 20 basketball. 
    • Kevin Wall made a motion for an additional expenditure of $200 to make these kits up.  Seconded by Scott Abert.  Motion carried.  This is in addition to the $250 approval received last month to purchase ice packs.  Total $450.
  • Phone line -  disconnected.
  • Scoreboards
    • Nancy showed the group an estimate from Electro-Mech to purchase 4 scoreboards. 
    • Dan would like a letter from the town that they will install the scoreboards at no cost to the FTAA or Recreation Board.
    • Members would like to see a layout of the fields and see where these scoreboards will be placed before approving this expenditure.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Kevin Wall and Scott Abert to look at field layout and where they will go.  Possibly have a representative from a company come out and make suggestions.
    • Will the town accept just one bid?
      • ACTION ITEM:  Nancy is still working on getting 2 other bids. 

§         Tobacco Products

o        A discussion was held regarding the use of tobacco products during games and practices after a letter from a parent was received by the FTAA with regard to the offense to parents and kids.

o        Baseball has rules governing the use of tobacco products and you cannot use them within 50 ft. of the benches.

o        Does the FTAA want to add a by-law for all other sports?

§         5 in favor; 0 against

§         ACTION ITEM:  Nancy and Dan to come up with a written by-law to be approved by the members.

·         Status:  Still needs to be written.

NEW BUSINESS

 

  • Budget Allocations (Dan Martyak/John Wieller)
    • Currently, each sport is allocated $1,000 per year.
    • For a sport that raises money, a commissioner has 2 months to spend what is in their funds after their season is over and it will then go to the general fund.  This will allow the general fund reports to be more in line with what is actually available.  Of course, if a sport needs additional funds post money being turned over to the general fund, the commissioner can request this.
  • Holiday Party
    • This years’ holiday party will be limited to Board Members, Commissioners and active members only.
  • Annual Nominations
    • Baseball – Nomination with acceptance to Chris Henry.
    • Cheering – Nominations with acceptances to Melody Talpas (Co-commission) and Kristie Miers (Co-commission)
    • Football – No one running against Fran Tone current Commissioner. 
      • ACTION ITEM:  Nancy to get written acceptance from Fran that he will continue as Commissioner.
    • Soccer – No one running against current co-Commissioners Greg Russell and Tim Woodard.  Greg and Tim accept a new term.
    • Basketball – Nomination with acceptance to Scott Abert. Scott would be willing to work with Don if Don wishes to continue as Commissioner.
    • Lacrosse – No one running against Scott Hardy.  Scott accepts a new term.
    • Softball – Nomination with acceptance to Ty Corallo.
    • Dances Committee Chair – need help here but Kevin will continue until someone will step up.
    • Snack Bar – need help here but John, Dan, Kevin will continue to support this until someone will step up.
    • Secretary (Officer) – Nancy will step down.  Nomination to Tammy Saylor declined.  No other nominations were heard.
    • Treasurer (Officer) – No one running against current Officer, John Wieller.  John accepts a new term.
    • Vice President (Officer) – Nomination via email read by Secretary from George Shoolbraid to nominate Scott Hardy. Scott accepts nomination.  Nomination with acceptance to Kevin Wall.  A ballot vote will be held at the next meeting.
    • President (Officer) – No one running against Dan Martyak.  Dan accepts another term.
    •  

Motion to adjourn by Tim Woodard and seconded by Scott Abert.  Motion carried.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Nancy Bonfanti

FTAA Secretary